Posted on 11/05/2001 5:47:46 PM PST by Lady In Blue
Nov 5, 2001
WASHINGTON (AP) - With its use of the 15,000-pound "daisy cutter" bomb in Afghanistan, the United States has unleashed one of its most powerful weapons - billed as the world's largest conventional bomb.
The BLU-82 combines a watery mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminum with air, then ignites the mist for a huge explosion that incinerates everything within up to 600 yards. The shock wave can be felt miles away.
The BLU-82 uses about six times the amount of ammonium nitrate explosive that Timothy McVeigh used in the bomb that blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.
First created during the Vietnam War to quickly clear jungle landing zones, the daisy cutter also was used against Iraqi troops during the Gulf War. Reports from the ground in Afghanistan indicate the huge bombs have been used against front-line Taliban positions.
The bombs cost about $27,000 each. They are dropped from a C-130 cargo plane flying at least 6,000 feet off the ground, to avoid the bomb's massive shock wave. Each is more than 17 feet long and 5 feet in diameter - about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle but far heavier.
AP-ES-11-05-01 2047EST
This story can be found at : http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA6ASS1PTC.html
That would be the last thing you'd ever see.
I was reading on another thread today that Taliban trains to run toward descending parachutes. Heh, heh, heh...
Is this bomb the same as a FAE or is it different?
Different. FAE cracks open while still falling, before detonation, generating an explosive cloud, then ignites it. BLU-82s are just a huge tank of explosive slurry.
That's great. The Tallyban will think they're running for the smorgasbord. Won't they be surprised!?
About the size of some Volkswagen Beetles
Amen! Total fantasy on my part, but wouldn't it be great if we had a bomber capable of carrying 100 FAE bombs, each the size of a boxcar? Talk about carpet bombing! Okay all you aerospace engineers, get to crackin'! Thousand foot wingspan? No problemo.
Was that from someone who took "outcome based" math? Given that the bomb has about 7 tons of explosive, I'd be curious to see how the calculated yield could be 7,500 tons, or about half the yield of the the hiroshima bomb....
You're askin' me about bombs? I don't know nothin' 'bout bombs. I just do guns.
I wonder what are the chances that someone mistakenly puts a small tactical nuke in along with the conventional weapons.
Government workers are not infallible, and mistakenly putting in a tactical nuke in along with the conventional warheads is just a filing mistake. ;)
Oh I've got big bombs,
I've got big bombs
And they're such big bombs
Dirty Big bombs,
And he's got big bombs
And she's got big bombs
But we've got the biggest bombs of them all
And my bombs are always falling
My bombers are always full
And everybody's bombed and bombed again
If your name is on the guest list
No-one can blow you sky-higher
Everybody says I've got
GREAT BOMBS OF FIRE...
Oh I've got big bombs
[repeat]
Some bombs are dropped on fascists
And some on communists
But when they're dropped on the Taliban
They're the bombs that I like best.
My bombs are always dropping
to the left and to the right
It's my belief that my big bombs
Should be dropped every night
Oh I've got big bombs
[repeat]
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